At the heart of the matter

If you were a participant in 2014’s Temporal City Project, you likely recall the dramatic installation at the tour’s finale. It was a 10-foot heart created by Jillian Crochet and dramatically lit in one of the darkened rooms on an upper level of the old Scottish Rites Temple. Word had it some of the guests were so moved by the experience, tears were shed.

For the month containing Valentine’s Day, Crochet’s coronary masterpiece — My Beating Heart — made of various hues of red yarn and a wire framework, will be on display at the Mobile Arts Council, 318 Dauphin St. Aside from the annual holiday for attraction, the object bears significance for the artist as “a universally personal connector for each participant. Yarn lends a fluidity that expresses the transient movement in life.”

The eager are invited step into the center of the installation and make the heart “beat” by tugging at a pull hanging inside. Crochet likened it to “an embrace or comforting blanket.”

“I like to hover between the line of functioning and non-functioning works of art, offering a participatory element allows me to give each viewer a controlled and deeply personal experience,” Crochet said in a statement.

“The works in crochet examine the historical relationship between female identity and craft. The participant can further identify with the installation because of their own familiarity to family heirlooms created in a similar style.”

The installation will remain in place until Feb. 27. The offices are open to public Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more info, call 251-432-9796 or go to mobilearts.org.